Authorities on Sunday said DNA evidence has tied a seven-time felon to an unsolved 2006 homicide from the city’s North Lawndale neighborhood.

       Cornelius Heath, 55, provided authorities with an oral swab last January that later matched a DNA profile made from material found underneath the fingernails of the 19-year-old stabbing victim, prosecutors told a judge during a bail hearing broadcast on YouTube.

       Heath, of the 1400 block of South Keeler Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Derell Hurst, who died from a single stab wound that severed an artery in his abdomen, according to the authorities.

       Hurst was found near a gangway in the 1500 block of South Lawndale Avenue in the early morning of July 27, 2006. The victim had been hanging out with friends for hours before leaving them around 3 a.m., said Assistant State’s Attorney Lorin Jenkins.

       One witness identified Heath as the person running away from the gangway around the time of the attack. Two days later, another witness inside a vehicle with Heath said he was holding a large hunting knife and bragged about using it to rob people on Lawndale Avenue, Jenkins said.

       When that witness told Heath that Hurst was dead, Heath allegedly responded, “That’s how the game is played,” prosecutors said.

       The case appeared to be delayed for 14 years because the DNA profile wasn’t suitable for testing at the time, but investigators were told the evidence could be tested last year. It was unclear whether advances in DNA testing had made the charges possible.

       Heath’s court-appointed attorney noted the circumstantial nature of the case, with no direct eyewitnesses to the stabbing. The attorney added that most of her client’s convictions were nonviolent.

       Judge Mary Marubio ordered Heath held on $35,000 bail. He returns to court on Monday.

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